Module 4 of StartCloud's Cyber Hygiene for Staff learning pathway, in five short units with a knowledge check: locking your screen before you walk away, why updates close holes criminals already know about, honest modern advice on public Wi-Fi and hotspots, and house rules for mystery USBs, free downloads and personal devices.
Safe Habits for Devices, Wi-Fi and Working Anywhere
Lock it before you walk
An unlocked screen is an open filing cabinet. Anyone walking past can read what is on it, and anyone with thirty seconds and a bit of nerve can send an email as you, copy a file, or just quietly take photos of a client list. None of that requires hacking skills. It requires you to be at the sandwich shop.
The fix is one small habit: lock the screen before you walk away. Every time, everywhere, even at home. It takes half a second and it turns your device from an open filing cabinet into a locked one.
Windows key + L
Two keys, held for half a second, and your screen is locked. It costs nothing, nobody sees your email while you refill your coffee, and everything is exactly where you left it when you sign back in. Do it every time you stand up, even for a minute, until your hand does it without asking your brain first.
- Works everywhere: office, home, client site, cafe
- Nothing closes, nothing is lost, you just sign back in
- Set the screen to auto-lock after a few minutes as a backstop
Control + Command + Q
The Mac version of the same reflex. Three keys and the lock screen appears instantly. If you use a MacBook with Touch ID, unlocking again takes about as long as sitting back down, so there is really no excuse to skip it.
- Locks instantly without logging you out
- Touch ID or your password gets you straight back in
- Hot corners can lock the screen with a flick of the mouse too
Yes, these count too
Your phone probably has your work email, Teams, and a saved password or fifty. A short auto-lock (under a minute) plus face or fingerprint unlock means it protects itself the moment you put it down. If your work phone currently sits unlocked on cafe tables, this is your unit.
- Auto-lock set to a minute or less
- Face or fingerprint unlock so short lock times never annoy you
- A proper PIN underneath, not 0000 or your birth year
Working from a cafe, an airport lounge, or seat 23B on the red-eye to Melbourne? The person beside you can read your screen as easily as you can. Most will not care. The one who does only needs a glance at a payroll spreadsheet or a client email. Angle your screen away from strangers, drop the font size a notch for sensitive work, and save the truly confidential stuff for somewhere with fewer elbows.
A laptop bag on the back seat is one smashed window away from being someone else's laptop, and that is a genuinely common way work devices go missing in Perth. Not master hackers. A brick and eight seconds. Take the bag with you, or lock it in the boot before you drive off, not once you have parked with an audience.